Tax Domicile at Two Hundred Days, and a Tax That Stops at the Border
Two things make El Salvador unusual and they work in the same direction. The threshold is two hundred consecutive days in a calendar year rather than the hundred and eighty-three almost everyone else uses, so a stay that would make you resident in Peru, Colombia or Mexico leaves you outside the Salvadoran net - and once you have been domiciled for more than a calendar year you may be away a hundred and sixty-five days without losing the status. And the tax itself is territorial. Article 15 of the income tax law, headed 'Renta mundial', was repealed, and what is left is article 16, which defines Salvadoran-source income by where the property, the activity, the capital and the service are. Becoming tax resident here therefore does not expose foreign income to Salvadoran tax in the way it would in Colombia, Mexico or Brazil. The rate scale for a resident runs from an exempt band up to thirty per cent; a non-domiciled individual pays a flat thirty per cent on Salvadoran-source income.
At a glance
- Day threshold
- More than 200 consecutive days in a calendar year
- Alternative test
- Principal seat of your business in El Salvador
- Absence allowed after a year of domicile
- 165 days
- Basis of taxation
- Territorial
- Worldwide income article
- Repealed
Article 15 of the Ley de Impuesto sobre la Renta, headed 'Renta mundial', is marked DEROGADO with reform markers (2) and (14): Decreto Legislativo 250 of 21 May 1992 and Decreto Legislativo 496 of 28 October 2004.
- Exempt band
- Up to USD 6,600 a year
- Top rate for a resident individual
- 30 per cent
Reached above USD 22,857.14 of net taxable income, on the fourth band of the scale in article 37. Only the first band of that table is quoted here.
- Rate for a non-domiciled individual
- 30 per cent flat
- Filing threshold for a salaried person
- USD 60,000 a year
- Capital gains on bitcoin
- Not subject to capital gains tax
- Currency
- United States dollar
Dollarised since 2001 and every figure in the tax law is written in dollars; no conversion is involved anywhere on this page.
Requirements
- More than two hundred consecutive days of residence, temporary or permanent, in a calendar year makes you domiciled
- Having the principal seat of your business in El Salvador also makes you domiciled, whatever the day count
- The principal seat means the one producing the greatest part of your income
- Once domiciled for more than one calendar year, absences of up to one hundred and sixty-five days do not break it
- Only Salvadoran-source income is taxed - income from property situated, activities carried out, capital invested or services rendered or used in the country
- A domiciled individual pays on the scale in article 37 of the income tax law; a non-domiciled one pays thirty per cent flat
- A salaried person whose tax has been withheld need not file unless income exceeds sixty thousand dollars a year
Country-level policy
El Salvador adopted the United States dollar as legal tender by a decree of November 2000, and the statutes written since then state money in dollars with no national unit behind it: a thousand dollars of duty-free goods, fifteen thousand dollars CIF of household effects, a seven-hundred-dollar naturalisation fee, a six-thousand-six-hundred-dollar exempt band. Nothing on this country's pages needs converting, and a figure that looks converted has been mishandled. Two residues are worth knowing about. The Social Security Law of 1953 still fixes the State's annual contribution in colones, a currency that no longer circulates, because nobody has amended that sentence. And since 2021 bitcoin has also been legal tender - amended in January 2025 so that acceptance is voluntary and only private persons may accept it, with the obligation to accept, the state conversion mechanism and payment of taxes in bitcoin all repealed.
El Salvador applies four different presence tests and they do not agree with each other, so which one binds depends on the status held. A temporary resident must be in the country at least ninety calendar days a year, consecutive or added up - a presence quota introduced in March 2026 and the newest rule of the four. A pensioner or rentista loses the status after six months away, consecutive or cumulative in a calendar year. A permanent resident may be away two years outright, then up to one more with permission and further extensions on application. And someone trying to regularise after ten years of irregular stay has their clock broken by six months' absence. For tax, two hundred consecutive days make you domiciled, and once domiciled for more than a calendar year you may be away a hundred and sixty-five days without losing it. A plan built on one of these figures is not safe against another.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«Las personas naturales que residan de manera temporal o definitiva en el país por más de doscientos días consecutivos durante un año calendario. Las personas que hayan sido consideradas como domiciliadas durante más de un año calendario, podrán ausentarse del país hasta por ciento sesenta y cinco días sin perder su calidad de domiciliadas;»Our translation - not official
Natural persons who reside temporarily or permanently in the country for more than two hundred consecutive days during a calendar year. Persons who have been considered domiciled for more than one calendar year may be absent from the country for up to one hundred and sixty-five days without losing their status as domiciled;
Two numbers, and both differ from the regional norm. The two hundred days are consecutive, not cumulative, which is a further difference from the 183-days-in-any-12-months tests used elsewhere.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Las personas naturales que tengan en la República de El Salvador el asiento principal de sus negocios.»Our translation - not official
Natural persons who have the principal seat of their business in the Republic of El Salvador.
The paragraph that follows defines it: 'Debe entenderse por asiento principal de los negocios del contribuyente aquel que le produzca el mayor monto de sus rentas'. A majority-of-income test, not a centre-of-interests test.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Renta mundial.
Art. 15.- DEROGADO. (2) (14)»Our translation - not official
Worldwide income. Article 15. REPEALED.
The heading survives in the consolidated text with the article emptied under it, which is the clearest possible record of the choice: El Salvador legislated for worldwide income and then took it out. The markers point to Decreto Legislativo 250 of 21 May 1992, Diario Oficial 101, Tomo 315, and Decreto Legislativo 496 of 28 October 2004, Diario Oficial 231, Tomo 365.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Se reputan rentas obtenidas en El Salvador, las que provengan de bienes situados en el país, así como de actividades efectuadas o de capitales invertidos en el mismo, y de servicios prestados o utilizados en el territorio nacional, aunque se reciban o paguen fuera de la República.»Our translation - not official
Income obtained in El Salvador is deemed to be income from property situated in the country, from activities carried out or capital invested in it, and from services rendered or used in the national territory, even if received or paid outside the Republic.
The source rules are wider than they first look. The next paragraph treats income from a service used in the country as Salvadoran-source for the provider even where the work was done abroad, which reaches a foreign consultant billing a Salvadoran client.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«I TRAMO | $ 0.01 | $ 6,600.00 | EXENTO»Our translation - not official
First band, $0.01 to $6,600.00, exempt
The first row of the scale for domiciled individuals, estates and trusts. The remaining bands apply 10 per cent above $6,600.00, 20 per cent above $9,142.86 and 30 per cent above $22,857.14, each with a fixed amount added.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Las personas naturales, sucesiones o fideicomisos no domiciliados, calcularán su impuesto aplicando el treinta por ciento (30%) sobre su renta neta o imponible.»Our translation - not official
Natural persons, estates or trusts that are not domiciled shall calculate their tax by applying thirty per cent to their net or taxable income.
The non-domiciled rate equals the top domiciled rate, so crossing the two-hundred-day line can only reduce the bill on Salvadoran-source income, never raise it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«salvo aquellas personas con rentas mayores a US$60,000.00 anuales»Our translation - not official
except those persons with income greater than US$60,000.00 a year
The exception to the rule that a salaried person whose tax has been withheld does not file at all.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Los intercambios en Bitcoin no estarán sujetos a impuestos sobre las ganancias de capital.»Our translation - not official
Exchanges in Bitcoin shall not be subject to capital gains tax.
This article survived the January 2025 amendment that gutted the rest of the law. It is marked (1) in the reform legend, so it was touched rather than left alone, and what stands is the text quoted here.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The two-hundred-day rule is in the Código Tributario and not in the income tax law, which is where most readers look. We read article 53 in full, together with articles 52 and 54, which fix what 'domicilio tributario' means and where an individual's is.
The territorial basis is established here by a repeal rather than by a positive statement, and a repeal is easy to miss in a consolidated text because the heading stays. We state it from the DEROGADO marker on article 15 together with the positive source rules of article 16, and not from any agency guidance - we read none.
There is no separate regime for foreign pensions in the tax law. Article 146 of the migration law exempts the pensioner's declared foreign sums from income tax, but given territoriality that exemption mostly restates what article 16 already does not reach.
- consolidatesCódigo Tributario, consolidated text with reform legend
Centro de Documentacion Judicial, Corte Suprema de Justicia (El Salvador)
About this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesLey de Impuesto sobre la Renta, consolidated text with reform legend
Centro de Documentacion Judicial, Corte Suprema de Justicia (El Salvador)
About this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesLey Bitcoin, consolidated text with reform legend
Centro de Documentacion Judicial, Corte Suprema de Justicia (El Salvador)
About this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source